The present invention, which relates primarily to a computer implemented method and system for storing and retrieving images and textual information relating to those images, was discovered in an effort to solve several problems associated with presently available means for real estate searching. Nonetheless, it is applicable to other areas as well, including, but not limited to, the sale of any product for which pictorial representations can be helpful in selling that product because direct viewing is impractical or inconvenient, for example, heavy equipment, vehicles and weapons systems. Because of its genesis, it is convenient to discuss the background of the invention in the context of its real estate application.
Traditionally, real estate, especially residential, is bought and sold through an intermediary, i.e., a real estate broker, who brings the buyer and seller together. Brokers use various methods to "screen" properties before presenting them to buyers. They may have a simple index card system containing information, often barren of pictures, about available properties; they may computerize their files to include those properties listed only with them; and/or they may belong to a multiple listing service, "MLS", which provides information regarding several different brokers' properties.
In some cases, a broker may have a MLS book which contains information about properties for sale and one picture, usually black and white, but now sometimes in color, of each home's exterior. MLS books are generally not distributed to buyers, nor can they automatically be searched for properties based on values or ranges satisfying particular search criteria. In addition, they contain only properties found in one particular geographical area.
In some areas, an MLS is provided on a computerized system which retrieves information via a telecommunications link based on a search specifying particulars as to predetermined criteria. While these systems are improvements, their visual displays are unattractive, and their interfaces are complicated to use, requiring much training On-line systems are also less reliable than on-site systems, due to the unpredictable quality of telecommunications connections. Further, some of these systems provide textual information only, while others provide either black and white or gray scale images along with the textual information. Those systems which provide images are slow in displaying them due to the quantity of image data which must be transmitted.
At least one MLS on-line system provides color pictures, i.e., the "BORIS" system which is used in the San Francisco area. That system uses analog telephone lines to transmit pictures and other informational data from a remote central computer to the local user system. However, it provides only one picture per property, the picture transmission time is so long it prevents the display of multiple images; the color depth is extremely limited; and its resolution is poor.
One large brokerage firm in the New York Tri-state area currently distributes a book which has 10,000 to 15,000 color pictures of properties. However, it contains only one picture per property, usually the exterior of a home; it contains only local properties, and only those which are listed with that brokerage firm; and it cannot be automatically searched.
The HOMEVIEW system, a computer implemented system not connected to an MLS and now used in Needham, Mass., provides multiple color images for real estate through use of a touch screen-operated computerized system. The HOMEVIEW system has search capabilities based upon an expansive list of predetermined criteria which can also be map driven. The detailed manner in which the HOMEVIEW system works, as far as applicants are aware, has not yet been made public. However, from casual observation and review of HOMEVIEW's promotional literature, it appears that the system operates on a workstation-level computer, with a screen larger than a standard microcomputer color monitor, and would therefore be extremely expensive. Further, HOMEVIEW requires a skilled technician to operate it, and it stores properties in a single local geographic area only. Because HOMEVIEW has been designed to operate at one site in that area, presumably its data cannot easily be duplicated and distributed to other microcomputers.
Another computer driven system is disclosed in PCT application No. WO 91/09368. That system purports to provide a rapid search and display, on a local computer monitor, simultaneously of graphical and related textual information contained on a "graphical relational database" and a large tabular database contained on both the local system and a host system, in response to a user search query entered into the local system.
Accordingly, each of the present methods and materials for searching real estate has one or more of the following deficiencies: it requires extensive time and effort to use, much of it wasted, because it provides no automatic search capabilities and/or pictorial representations, or if so, typically only a black and white one; where a color image is supplied, typically only one image is provided, limiting the ability to convey a fair and complete impression of the property's appearance; and/or the geographical areas covered are limited.
The existing computerized systems suffer, in addition, from many other problems, including one or more of the following: they are slow with respect to both searching and displaying images; they require extensive training before they can be used; the data contained on those systems cannot easily be duplicated and distributed to other systems, especially microcomputer systems; the color depth and resolution of any images are limited; the hardware required is expensive; and to the extent they are on-line, they are less reliable than on-site systems.
Although the system and method disclosed in PCT application No. WO 91/09368 helps solve some of these problems, it does not resolve all of them, and actually, creates others. To begin with, it uses graphical relational databases, which store textual data along with image data, thereby decreasing system efficiency, including an increase in search time. In addition, although it mentions data compression in passing, it fails to teach any way of compressing image data, and does not distinguish between data compression and image compression. Image compression typically produces much higher compression ratios than data compression. Moreover, PCT application No. WO 91/09368 fails to teach or suggest the advantage of maintaining compressed image data within the computer's internal memory, viz., this enables the computer to manipulate and store more images with higher color depth for simultaneous display on a computer monitor. Furthermore, it neither teaches nor suggests the creation of an external access routine for the purpose of allowing a database engine to utilize an operating system's own built-in compression capabilities, inaccessible directly by the database engine.
Clearly there is a need for a method and system, implemented in current microcomputer technology which is more cost effective; contains properties beyond a local geographical area; is more convenient to use, i.e., so that anyone with a microcomputer can use it; performs rapid automatic searches based on predetermined search criteria; displays more, clear and attractive photo-realistic images on a single display screen; is less frustrating, less time-consuming and more "user-friendly." These and other problems of the prior art are solved by the present invention.